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Cynthia Erivo hosts SNL UK season two finale, spoofing Wicked in "Nigerian Wicked"

Cynthia Erivo hosted the season two finale of Sky's SNL UK on Saturday 24 October, with a Nollywood-style parody of Wicked as the standout sketch. Season three is slated for January.

2 outlets · 2L · 0C · 0R First reported Account updated
Image: The Hollywood Reporter
Image: The A.V. Club

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The story, neutrally told

Left · 1Cynthia Erivo hosted the season two finale of SNL UK on Saturday night, with Blossoms as musical guest. Left · 2The sketch that drew most attention was "Nigerian Wicked", a parody of the Wicked films in the style of low-budget Nigerian ("Nollywood") cinema, in which Erivo played Glinda and cast member Ayoade Bamgboye played Elphaba. Left · 2The sketch featured cheap-looking effects and deadpan melodramatic narration ("Glinda doesn’t like egg, so their relationship is very strained"), and the pair travel to the "Wizard of LagOz", played by Hammed Animashaun, hoping for a "gravity-defying" BBL; he turns out to be broke.

Left · 2The credits list Erivo under her full birth name, Cynthia Chinasaokwu Onyedinmanasu Owezuke Amarachukwu Echimino Erivo; The A.V. Club said this showed she knew the genre well. Left · 1According to The Hollywood Reporter, the sketch's YouTube clip passed one million views in under 24 hours. Left · 1Other material included Erivo's monologue joking about her serious public image and her nails, a hitwoman sketch set in a B&B breakfast room, a "Modern Music" sketch with Annabel Marlow, and a cold open with George Fouracres as Andy Burnham and Celeste Dring as Claudia Winkleman.

Left · 1Weekend Update, presented by Ania Magliano and Paddy Young, was described as a fan favourite; the one new cast member this season was Freddie Meredith, who appeared as Prince William. Left · 1The Hollywood Reporter, which attended the recording at Television Centre in London, reported a live audience of 275, with 30-40 sketches pitched each week and six or seven performed, and strict security. Left · 1On ratings, the outlet said the first season's debut with Tina Fey drew over 220,000 viewers in Britain, falling to a series low of 86,420 for Ncuti Gatwa's episode against Eurovision, while season two opened on 9 September with Jeff Goldblum and an overnight audience of 105,000.

Left · 1Season three is slated for January, and The Hollywood Reporter concluded the show might have "finally found its groove".

Every sentence links to the reporting it rests on. The pill in front of each says where its sources sit: Left, Centre or Right when one side supplies at least half of them, Mixed when they are evenly split. The number is how many outlets it cites.

Left2 outlets

Framing
Both outlets treat the finale as a showcase for Erivo and the Nigerian Wicked sketch; the A.V. Club reviews the sketch, while The Hollywood Reporter gives a behind-the-scenes account and judges the show to be improving.
Emphasis
Erivo's comic range, the Nollywood parody, the show's British humour, and the party-like atmosphere of the recording.
Leaves out or plays down
Neither outlet reports Sky's own ratings for the finale; no critical or sceptical voices beyond a passing mention of 'naysayers'. Coverage comes only from left-leaning North American outlets.
Charged language
“pitch-perfect”“show-stealer”“gloriously inept”
For example
“It’s a pitch-perfect distillation of a kind of film the Nigerian-descended Erivo clearly knows very well” — The A.V. Club
“But the show-stealer was undoubtedly the Nollywood, sapphic take on Erivo’s breakout role.” — The Hollywood Reporter

Centre0 outlets

No centre outlet in our sources has covered this story yet.

Right0 outlets

No right outlet in our sources has covered this story yet.

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